COPPER BOX ARENA — Emma Raducanu was grinding on Friday.
As GB’s Billie Jean King Cup team beamed to a few hundred schoolchildren at the Copper Box, which is sold out this weekend for their clash with Sweden, i understands Raducanu was on court at the National Tennis Centre for a 90-minute session.
It is a sign of the stepping up of her rehabilitation process from the triple surgery, one on her ankle and one on each wrist, that ended her season in May.
But it is understood that the date of her exact comeback is yet to be decided.
Some of the money being thrown at the Brisbane International might have been offered her way, but when they announced their star-studded start list this week, there was no Raducanu to be seen: Naomi Osaka, six months after giving birth, Andy Murray on perhaps his last tour of Australia and world No 10 Holger Rune will all command significant appearance fees, so perhaps there was no budget left for Raducanu.
The more likely target would seem to be Auckland, which will run from 1 January in 2024, although it was also the scene of the 2021 US Open champion’s ankle injury last year, rolling the joint on an indoor court that drew criticism throughout the draw. But an existing relationship with the organisers may prove enough for her to garner a wildcard: with a protected ranking in the 80s, she may need one.
But if her body is not ready, there is no question of rushing into anything. In two years since winning the US Open, she has played just 51 matches and won less than half of them.
Meanwhile, the British team are getting used to life without Raducanu, and instead trying to make a name for themselves. Sweden, stripped of their two best players by injury, do not have another singles player ranked inside the top 350, meaning the sold-out Copper Box will be expecting a convincing victory.
“There’s absolutely no room for [complacency], and I think we’ve seen in this competition that anything’s possible,” said team captain Anne Keothavong.
The skipper also reiterated that there was no credit in the bank for the likes of Harriet Dart, Heather Watson and Katie Boulter, who defied expectations by coming within a tie-break of the final last year in Glasgow.
With Raducanu edging closer to fitness and a strong Junior BJK Cup side that is into the semi-finals in Cordoba, competition for places is a luxury that a team who only dug themselves out of the Europe-Africa Group 1 in 2019 has not come to expect.
“I don’t think anyone can guarantee a spot on this team,” Keothavong added, skirting the question of whether Raducanu would walk back in when fit and ready.
“They set the bar high for the others who want to be on this team, which is good.
“But everyone’s hungry and everyone wants to be part of that, so for me as captain, hopefully, we’ll be spoilt for choice.”
GB vs Sweden
(Winner will go into a qualifying tie next spring for a place at the 2024 BJK Cup Finals)
Saturday 11 November (from 2pm)
- Jodie Burrage vs Kajsa Rinaldo Persson
- Katie Boulter vs Caijsa Hennemann
Sunday 12 November (from 12pm)
- Katie Boulter vs Kajsa Rinaldo Persson
- Jodie Burrage vs Caijsa Hennemann
- Heather Watson & Harriet Dart vs Lisa Zaar & Bella Bergkvist Larsson
Watch live on the BBC Sport website, app and iPlayer
And Keothavong is confident that the next Raducanu isn’t far away either.
She also said: “I think British women’s tennis is in a much better place than it has been for a long time.
“The likes of Mika Stojsavljevic, Hannah Klugman, Mimi Xu have showed in recent weeks what they’re capable of at the ITF Challenger events and they’re only going to get better. They’re obviously limited with the number of tournaments they can play.
“But we need that in British tennis across men’s and women’s tennis, competition and fight for places that is only going to raise the level of everyone. And in a training environment as well, they’re all going to be pushing against each other and challenging each other. And that’s the only way you’re going to improve.
“If we can create that kind of environment within British tennis, then it’s only a good thing.”
